President’s Post: Permitting Reform & Protecting Direct Pay Priorities as LPPC CEOs Meet with Members of Congress

LPPC members, including 19 public power CEOs, convened in Washington, DC, last week to meet with Members of Congress and agency officials about two issues of importance to public power -- permitting reform and protecting direct pay energy tax credits.
Public power utilities are expanding the ways clean energy powers our nation, and protecting the direct pay energy tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act is vital to this mission.
These credits apply to all kinds of clean energy projects, from wind, solar and storage to nuclear, hydrogen and carbon capture. Most importantly, LPPC's not-for-profit members will be able to pass along the savings from these incentives to the communities they serve.
LPPC members also spoke to policymakers about the urgent need to advance permitting reform.
While public power provides the most reliable electric service in the country, they must still rely on a complex energy infrastructure system in need of continual maintenance to ensure the lights turn on when someone flips a switch.
Today, it can take eight-ten years to relicense a hydro-electric dam and even more to build new long-distance transmission lines. Permitting delays puts the industry’s ability to deliver reliable and affordable energy at risk and slows the expansion of new clean energy projects.
To learn more about the federal policies LPPC advocates for, please read our latest policy objectives.